Stopping Chaos
by Mable
Summary: With the others out, Nine is stuck watching over a bed ridden One, an emotionally strained Six, and a rather normal Eight. Between this and his own strange feelings appearing, can he survive the job he's been given? 1x9 and 6x8.


**Mable: Hey! Another one-shot, a lot longer than my usual one-shots though. There's a couple here I haven't worked with at all so it might be shaky on new legs, but I hope it's enjoyed anyway. There are also other mentions of other couples which will be picked up as its read. This was just something I wanted to write for a while, especially since I haven't read any **_**9 **_**fics in the longest while. I can't do it anymore, I keep coming across sad ones that are well written, but put me in a poor mood. This satisfies my craving enough so I don't have to, you know, sprout wings and fly off to find someone to feast on. Special thanks to xXBroken-Wings-ForeverXx; for introducing me to **_**9 **_**and supporting me when I was unsure of my fics. I don't own **_**9**_, **Enjoy!**

_**Stopping Chaos**_

"What?" Nine's optics were wide as he asked this. Two repeated it again for him, "I asked if you could keep watch while Seven, Five, and I go search for parts." He went into deeper explanation, "One should still be in bed since he's feeling poorly, Six is in his room still, and Eight refuses to leave the sanctuary while One is under the weather. Just make sure that One stays in bed and that Eight doesn't try to bully Six, he had a rough night last night and needs to have some time without trauma." The Inventor then smiled, "It shouldn't be that hard. We won't be gone long." The other simply stared as he couldn't believe what Two had just asked him to do. While they would leave, most likely taking the twins with them, he was stuck here trying to stop all chaos.

Then Two was walking towards the bucket lift and Nine simply followed him, "About One not feeling good…" Two decided to explain, "One has been having a horrible headache all morning, one that has kept him in bed. Just make sure there are no loud noises or any bright lights and he should just rest." The bucket lift started going down with the five, including the twins, in it. "But Eight and Six-." Nine started only to have Two wave it off, "As long as Eight has something to do he shouldn't go after Six." A look of fear crossed the younger's face and Seven spoke up, "Do you think it's safe to leave him alone?" Two chuckled a bit, "I'm confident that Nine can handle One, Six, and Eight for a little while."

Staring at the spot where the others used to be, Nine found himself completely terrified, especially when he could already hear something going on in the other room. At this point he realized that he would have to begin this psychotic job this very second. He practically ran passed One's room to Six's where he realized Eight had already gotten in. It was as though he had been waiting for the others to leave so he could begin his torment. Seconds from picking up the ink well beside Six, Eight stopped when he saw Nine, and then resumed reaching down. "Eight…" Nine started, "I need help." Then he thought up a quick job that was created as he spoke, "Could you… Move… Some things for me?"

The bully looked confused and answered after staring at him for a few second, "Okay… I… Have… Nothing… Better… To do." He mimicked Nine's halting works before exiting Six's room immediately afterwards. The artist was drawing slowly, not paying attention, most likely still upset from the nightmare he had earlier, "Are you okay, Six?" A soft nodding motion and Six looked up a bit, "I'm tired." This was a good answer to the other's problem, "Maybe you should get some rest." Nine suggested, hoping if Six went to sleep that he'd stop being a target. He was going to continue speaking only to hear Eight, "What am I supposed to move?" He sounded annoyed and the addressed one nodded, "I'll show you."

Turning to Six, Nine quickly spoke, "I'll check on you in a little while." He gave Six a small pat on the shoulder and promptly left the room. He knew that he was now stuck with an agitated Eight, "I need you to… Bring the bucket lift back up." He was actually surprised at how fast he could come up with something to keep the other occupied. Eight looked a bit hesitant as though he was ready to refuse, but went to do it anyway. With Eight being busy now, Nine entered the passage again and went into One's room to check on his leader, "One?" He could see the figure in bed, who he knew was One, shiver a bit from the sudden noise. With a pounding headache that throbbed harder and harder it was hard to force an agitated tone, "What do you want?"

Nine stepped closer until he could see a little more of the leader for most was tucked under the blankets on his bed, "Did Two tell you that he was leaving?" The leader paused, "He left?" He would usually demand for Nine to go find and drag the others back, but with a horrible throb of his head he gave up on this, "Fine." A mere mutter and Nine leaned closer, "I didn't hear you." A harsher glare, "I said, fine." This caused another stab of pain, "Can you not go bother someone else?" Nine nodded, wanting to leave, "Okay, I'll come by later." He left the room and entered the throne room again. That was when everything took a turn for the worse when Nine realized Eight had finished up and already left.

Immediately he started towards Six's room where, once again, Eight was starting to toy with the smaller who still looked exhausted. He had one of the pictures in his hands and was dangling it in front of Six to taunt him while Six simply watched with this lost look. That was when Nine spoke up, "Eight, I need you to move something else." The bully glared at Nine, "Again?" The other nodded, "In my room." The picture was dropped and Eight again exited the room followed by Nine. "I need you to move my bed to the other side of the room. Not Five's though." Since Five and Nine shared a room he pointed out only to move his own. Eight was quick, lifting the bed and dropping it on the other side of the room was a loud 'thud', "Anything else?"

The answer was a shake of the head, "Not now." The bully took out of the room and to Nine's relief headed to his own room instead of Six's. As quick as that second of relief came by a second of dread passed. That banging noise was loud enough that One had to of heard it, so he was stuck having to check on the leader now. He hurried to the leader's room and entered, "One?" The same tremble, "Stop screaming." One's voice was obviously tired as his head was pounding so loud that he could barely hear the other speak. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't get up, he could only lay there. It was strange and taboo to see the strong leader in this state of actual weakness.

"I was just making sure you were okay. Do you need anything?" Not that Nine had much to give but he thought it was best if he offered. There was a second of silence before One responded, "Put out the candle in the hall. It lets in too much light." He commanded in his less than firm voice. The younger nodded, glad to make him feel better, and exited into the passageway to put out the candle. After this he returned to One's side, "Anything else?" The leader tried to think past the pain, "I am not quite sure." His optics were only slightly open as he could no longer keep them open all the way. Without thinking, Nine suddenly reached forward and pet One's head out of a strange reflex he didn't know he had.

Nine gasped in terror as he realized what he had just done. One softly exhaled, too delusional from his headache to actually realize what had occurred and enjoying the small second of comfort. If there couldn't be a better second to hear another noise from Six's room to go investigate. Not liking the sound of the thud, Nine used it as an excuse to leave, "Let me go check that." He slowly removed his hand from One who nodded a bit, "Make sure Eight has not injured Six." He said with a bit of levelheadedness that still remained even though his head pounded more and more. The younger nodded and practically ran out of room just to stop in the hall for a second as he registered the odd feeling that had spread from his hand.

It had spread all over and caused him to feel tingly with a hint of warmth. It was as though Nine suddenly wanted to smile, and laugh, and run back in to clutch onto his leader. Like what he once felt for Seven except realer and much stronger. He exhaled softly and started towards Six's room, noticing Eight suddenly exit and enter his own room with something in his hand that Nine couldn't see very well. Nine entered Six's room hesitantly, "Six?" The Artist was on the floor, just sitting there, a few small pieces of paper in his pen tipped hands. "Six?" He tried again and the other looked up with a look of sadness on his face. "Nine." There was a pause, "What happened? I heard a weird noise from One's room."

"I… I fell." Six said and glanced away as though he was lying. "Six," Nine pressed, "Was it Eight? What did he do?" He took the time to help the artist up while he listened as the other explained. "He took my drawing and I… Tried to get it back, only got the end," He showed the small bit of clipped paper, "and I fell." He shook his head though to somewhat push away the emotions that tried to come out, "It's okay, can draw it again…" Six made his way back to his inkwell and sat down to begin drawing. There was a second when Nine grew quite upset and wanted to go give Eight a piece of his mind; unfortunately it didn't go away and he exited the room with a burning anger.

It only took seconds to get into Eight's room where the bully was stretched out on his bed. The picture now lay forgotten on the floor. That was when a part of Nine's nerve gave way, as he didn't want to fight Eight, so instead he simply glared at the other. After a few seconds he snatched up the drawing and stormed out of the room with his anger still intact. Though while heading back towards Six's room his mind subconsciously wondered what was taking Two and the others so long to get back. Everything was drowned out when he saw the smile on Six's face as mismatched optics landed on the drawing. "Here you go, Six. Good as new. The bottom is a little… shredded though." This didn't take away from the joy that the other felt, "Doesn't matter." He smiled at it while Nine leaned against the wall to rest for a few moments.

After a few minutes of silence and peace a booming noise echoed through the sanctuary causing both of the Stitchpunks to jump a bit. "What was that?" Nine asked, not really expecting Six to answer. It wasn't much later when they heard a few odd tapping noises from the roof which over time grew stronger. It soon dawned on Nine what was occurring. It was starting to rain, it only just rolled in, and the others might be out there waiting in some sort of shelter for it to pass. This meant something absolutely horrific, so horrible that he wanted to scream; Nine would be watching the other three for at least a few more hours. Even worse, he could be stuck watching them for the rest of the long night.

Still Nine knew he had to continue his job and headed back to check on One. The leader was still lying in the same position as when he left as though he remained unmoving. Going closer, Nine could see One's optics closed and that he was finally relaxed. Finally the older had gone to sleep and the younger let out a relieved exhale. Then he cautiously sat at the foot of the bed where he stared at the floor and sorted through his many thoughts. He worried about Two, Five, Seven, Three, and Four being out there in the now pouring rain, but knew they could probably hold their own in this sort of situation. Two would lead them into an old house like this one, they'd hide somewhere nice and warm, the storm would pass, and then they would probably be home before dark.

Meanwhile Nine was stuck with a hurting One, Six on one of his post nightmare days, and Eight who would do anything to torment the Artist. Needless to say he felt a bit overwhelmed. A small tug could be felt on the blanket beneath Nine as One rolled onto his back in his sleep. This gave the younger more to look at, able to see almost all of the other. Without his cape, the new cape Two stitched for him that looked remarkably like the first one, and his crown, new as well, he looked almost like a different person. Especially since he was asleep now so he appeared calm and content with the world. It made Nine smile a bit as he reached forward through the darkened room. His hand stopped to rest on One's which rested on the covers.

It had been the one that Two had repaired a while after the incident with the Fabrication Machine and the life giving rain. The replaced pieces were slightly a different color as they weren't his original so it was obvious which hand was worked on. The mere memory of One's sacrifice haunted Nine even until that very second. He had never really thought about why it did though. The thought that the oldest of them having to give himself up for the younger was something that gave Nine true chills, because somewhere deep inside Nine would've jumped in front of One if he knew what the other had planned. Slowly he leaned down and did something that he wasn't even sure what it meant, he pressed his lips to the back of the other's hand and felt his tingling grow all over.

The sound of a clang caused him to abruptly pull away, relieved to see that One was still sleeping soundly, until realizing what could be happening in the other room. Now he began to grow weary of this constant noise drawing him down the hall, back to the same room. Still Nine ran to Six's room and stumbled inside only to catch the end of the event. Eight stood there, staring at Six, ink well on the floor half emptied on its side, and the Artist coated in much of it. Six looked just as surprised as Eight, as though he couldn't believe what had happened. Nine spoke haltingly as he had before, "What happened?" The pause between the two words came from confusion. The bully's hands went up in defense, "This was not my fault. I just held it up, he's the one that yanked it out of my hand and dropped it on himself."

They stood there for a second before Nine stepped forward and helped Six up, "Come on." The tiredness in his own voice could be heard clearly. He quietly led the artist out of the room, down the hall, and to the throne room. Taking Six down the bucket lift, Nine lead him to where Two had kept a bowl of water on the first floor. It was usually used to clean tools brought in from outside to make them easier to work with and sometimes even used to clean Stitchpunks who ended up caked in thick dirt that would only slow them down. It was out of the way, the water wasn't very clean anymore, but was enough to try and scrub the black ink off. Not much of it came off but it helped a little bit. Unfortunately the ink looked as though it would be on for a good while, unless they could get Two to help later.

After this was completed Nine again questioned what happened and Six was willing to explain, "He picked up my inkwell, I tried to take it back, and it poured on me." Again it was as though Six was defending the bully and Nine wasn't sure what to do, "Six, he's not going to stop. He'll just get worse and worse until it gets to the point where…" Nine cut off before he would say that Eight could start to attack him physically. Then the conversation took a turn that wasn't expected. A few choking noises and Six answered quietly, "I know." Nine saw him shivering oddly and knew what exactly what was going on, "He used to rip up a picture a day, or trip me, or insult me….Then he was doing it more. Now he does it every time we're alone. I don't like it."

He was now crying, Six was actually crying, and he was trying to smother it. A wave of anger, which he never usually felt until earlier today, and Nine knew that this one wouldn't disappear. It was slightly mellowed by the other's sobs though and he found himself patting Six's back instead of going upstairs to attack Eight, "It's not your fault. Please Six, please don't cry." Six started to stifle his crying until it was just a few hiccup like noises. "I'm okay. Haven't been feeling right since the nightmare." Now Nine wondered if Six was only defending Eight because he was afraid of the other getting mad at him. With this info dawning in Nine didn't press anymore and instead took the other's hand, "Let's go back to the sanctuary. It's starting to rain harder and it might get cold."

Six forced a smile and went with his friend to head back on the bucket lift. By time they were upstairs it did as expected and started raining down harder while it was getting darker outside, not to mention colder. Possibly because it was so late in the year, it certainly didn't help. Nine lead Six to his room, "Are you going to draw?" The Artist nodded but looked rather strained from crying. "Maybe you should get some sleep." Nine suggested, "I'm going to be awake a while to watch One, because he has a bad headache. You could take my bed if you would like to be closer." Six nodded again and tiredly followed him out of the room. He moved almost like a puppet being controlled by tangled strings.

The artist ducked quickly into the room, not wanting to draw any attention if Eight, who seemed to disappear, saw him. This caused Nine to softly shake his head before heading back to check on One. The leader seemed to still be asleep as Nine entered and sat at the foot of his bed as he had before. Unlike before though, the Stitchpunk lay down after a few seconds of sitting, resting as close to the other while making sure not to touch him and awaken him. "What exactly are you doing?" Nine sat up with a soft cry at the sudden voice. It seemed that One had been awake, as he now was somewhat sitting up giving the younger another half glare. "I was just sitting down for a second. The others aren't home yet."

This was countered abruptly, "Nor will they return. I can hear the storm and I can assure you Two would have stopped. He becomes adamant about finding some sort of shelter during thunderstorms." This made Nine smile, "I guess that's good then. They'll be okay, even if it means coming back tomorrow." This didn't exactly please One who scoffed, "The Emptiness is dangerous with or without a shelter. They could easily be injured." This shot Nine's hopes down so he tried to bring them up, "It's better than nothing though, right?" A small pause. "Of course; Anything is better than nothing." The hopes rose again until Nine noticed One suddenly wince, "One?"

The other started to lay back down, "Damn headache. I sit up for a few seconds and it's throbbing again. I knew Two was completely wrong when he said rest would make it stop." Now Nine stood to go to the leader's aid, "Maybe you need more rest." This caused a flinch, "Stop yelling, Nine. I can hear you just fine." It was as though he was spiraling down so fast that there was nothing he could do to ease it. His hands clenched at the cloth of his blanket and the younger feared that he was making it worse, "I guess I'm going to go check the others." As he turned to leave he was surprised to feel a hand clutch his wrist, "Wait." A fluttery feeling entered his inner metal as One continued, "I know this is not… Becoming of a leader, but I do not feel comfortable being alone. Don't leave me."

It was as though Nine's legs went useless as he suddenly dropped back onto the bed. Pleased with the other staying, One released his hand and let his optics slide shut to stem the small bit of light in the room. He was so tired, his head was pounding harder and harder, and Nine was unable to move. He honestly did not know what to do and what would not irritate the other. Eventually, after Nine was sure that One was far enough out of consciousness, he let their hands inter mingle again. Both of his hands stroked one of One's in soft pets, the warmth and tingly grew more until Nine found himself smiling like a maniac. Thankfully One wasn't looking at him or he might have been disturbed by the event.

Footsteps interrupted Nine's thoughts as he realized someone was walking past the door towards his own room. Six was already in the room, which meant it had to be Eight, again. Yet another flash of anger grew and the Stitchpunk slowly pulled his hands from the leader's hand before quickly heading out the door. This was ridiculous; Eight was almost at Nine and Five's room. "Stop." Nine commanded and the other looked at him with a look that questioned if he was serious, "I don't know what is wrong with you." He knew what he was about to get into but wasn't about to back down. The other seemed to catch on to the anger and glared, "What's wrong with me?"

"Why won't you just leave him alone? You know he had another nightmare." This comment didn't faze Eight the slightest, "He always has nightmares, they're all the same, and he wants attention every time. So I give him the attention he wants." This was followed by a smirk and Nine's glare turned harsher as he felt more building up inside, "He doesn't scream for _attention. _He screams because he sees things that are terrible. You make it worse, you torment him, just because he doesn't, no, _can't_ fight back. You like that he's always scared, that just helps you get sadistic pleasure out of bullying him." Their voices were raising and Eight stepped closer, "I am not sadistic." The way he said it was as though someone had accused him of it before.

"You are sadistic. Maybe you just don't realize it because you're not smart enough to put the pieces together. You've got two functions; tormenting Six and protecting One. Unfortunately you only do one of them well!" Maybe Nine shouldn't have made that comment as he knew Eight would counter. Surprisingly he countered vocally, not physically, "You've got nerve saying that I'm stupid. Even if I'm not one of those people who can put some sort of weird contraption together, at least I'm smart enough not to make the stupid mistakes you have." He lingered closer, "I'm not sadistic, and I'll be damned if I'm called stupid by the one who got us all killed!"

"That was not my fault!" Nine didn't expect the accusation against himself, "I tried to save everyone-." "Yeah, and you failed at that too! In fact, more of us were injured by your _curiosity _then by the beasts themselves!" Ready to make it out of the topic they had wandered into during the argument, Nine turned it, "This isn't about that! This is about you making Six miserable! Do you enjoy making him sad? Making him cry? Of course you do!" The bully scoffed, "Look whose backing away from the truth! The only reason nobody else mentions how you screwed up is because they're all too busy defending! All of them defend you because they won't accept the fact that you're a failure!"

"This isn't about me!" Nine cried out louder, "This is about Six!"

"This-!"

"_Would you two lower your voices?" _In a second they both fell completely silent. That had been One, whose head was pounding even harder, who could hear them from his room. Both of them couldn't react and simply stared at each other. Until, of course, Eight spoke up, "You said I made Six cry." He seemed amused and Nine glared again, "You did. He was crying downstairs when I was trying to get that ink off of him." He reveled in how fast that amused look dropped off of Eight's face before turning around quickly. He knew One could possibly be suffering even more and was somewhat convinced that Eight might be hesitant to go after Six again, who was still in Nine's room.

Peering inside, Nine could see One still in bed, "One?" The leader shuttered as he had previously, "Nine…" The younger came forward, "Are you okay? I shouldn't have been yelling…" One barely moved, "No, I shouldn't have been yelling. It only succeeded in making me even more miserable, and the whole room now looks… Blurred." Then he fell silent as Nine made his way around the makeshift bed to sit down. He was a bit hesitant, but still reached forward and stroked his head. Even though his head was hurting it seemed that One wasn't out of it like earlier, "What are you doing?" Nine's hand recoiled as quickly as it had reached out, "Sorry." There was a few seconds. "Continue." One almost commanded as he rested on the pillow.

The hand moved as it had in a soft stroke and massaged the other's temples. Nine only paused when One let out this pleasured moan, a feeling of warmth grew inside him. His pettings grew more loving and caring as all he wanted was to please the hurting leader. Obviously he was doing a good job or One would've stopped him by now. Then there was the sound of talking from the other room and Nine winced at the thought of Eight going at Six again. "One I… I'm going to go check on Six…" The leader seemed a bit displeased but waved it off, "Yes, fine. Hurry back." Another command before turning over to face the darker part of the room. Nine stood and, with one last touch on the arm, left the room.

In only a few seconds Nine had made it to his room, but instead of fighting, he simply heard talking. "I mean, I know I'm always doing stuff to you, but I never wanted to make you cry. So I guess I'm…" Eight paused before finishing his point, "I'm sorry, okay?" Nine blinked a bit as he realized Eight had taken in their conversation and took it to heart somewhat. At least the part about Six crying had somehow gotten through Eight's exterior. Nine wasn't surprised; Six crying had taken him aback as well. He leaned closer and listened as the other continued speaking to the silent artist, "I'm not sadistic, I'm not torturing you, and I'll lay off you a bit. One figures out I made you cry and I'll probably be-."

Complete silence; Except for some odd shuffling noises and this half choke noise that Eight made for a split second. Some time passed and there was only a weird noise that sounded like Six moaning a bit. A bit afraid that the apology was fake and that something even worse was going on, Nine peered inside only to find himself choking in a way that almost mimicked the half choke. He expected to see Eight and Six in a different, maybe perplexing position, but not with their mouths pressed together like that. They were absolutely oblivious to him and instead were continuing on moving their lips together. Six must have been the one who jumped on Eight, and instead of pushing the artist away the bully responded much differently.

Neither noticed him, they still weren't stopping, and Nine slowly made his way away from the door. Once back with One he slowly sat back down and stared at the wall. His mind was haze of thoughts that he couldn't sort out this time. It wasn't the fact that Eight and Six were doing the action, it was more on the action that they were doing. Nine had seen it before once when Three had gotten injured and Seven pressed her lips to the top of the young one's head for comfort. Obviously it was a sign of affection and Nine wanted to do it to a certain Stitchpunk who wasn't that far away. He slowly looked over and whispered, "One?" No answer, he waved his hand in front of the other's face to double check.

Apparently One had fallen asleep which was absolutely wonderful for Nine. He got on the opposite side of the bed and climbed on to get into the place he wanted. Slow couldn't describe the speed that he moved, slow looked like breakneck compared to the speed he was moving. He moved closer, closer, until they were so close that Nine could feel One's warmth radiating off him. One's optics shut tight as he seemed to be quite deep in sleep. Nine moved closer towards the warmth and wished that he could feel the other's arms around him, holding him close, keeping him safe. What was this odd feeling that was taking over him? He couldn't tell but he was ready to act on it. He let their lips pressed together and immediately was lost. It was a wonderful feeling.

The cloth rubbing together, the utter softness and roughness at the same time, and the warmth that spread through his form. Nine resisted the small voice in his mind that told him to pull away at that very second. Then the voice insisted that the leader had moved. At once everything shifted, roughly being moved, all the air suddenly vanishing out of him, the other's mouth gone, and Nine slowly realized what happened. As soon as he saw One above him and realized that he was lying on the bed beneath him he knew he had somehow been flipped over and was now trapped. He could feel One's hands tighten on his wrists as he glared, "What were you doing?" That was a brick wall, Nine didn't actually 'know' what it was called but tried to explain.

"I pressed our mouths together." One wasn't amused, "I could plainly see that. I mean, for what purpose? If you were trying to smother me you were doing a poor job." The younger knew what the other wanted to hear, a confession, but could only hesitate as he tried to explain, "No I wasn't trying to smother you. I was…. I was trying to… I saw someone else doing it and wanted to, because I-I.. Because I… It's a long story." He yelled at himself mentally at that 'It's a long story' comment. "Make it short." One commanded as his glare began to pierce Nine's being. "Well I was fighting with Eight- I don't know- it was about Six- and you spoke up- so we stopped- I came in here- your head was hurting-."

"Nine, don't tell me what I already know, and be quieter, your yelling is making my head pound worse." Nine winced, "Okay, well, okay." He calmed himself and braced himself for his explanation continued, "I thought that was how to… I saw Eight and Six doing it and…" One's optics widened for a second before he regained compositor, "And you found it would be humorous to try it on your ill leader?" Nine shook his head, "No, I thought it meant that you loved someone and I…" He gasped as he just realized he had basically admitted his feelings. Then he simply waited. Silence, nothing, and then suddenly Nine's mouth was captured by One's. Demanding, and yet there was something else that Nine wasn't conscious enough to identify. No, he was completely lost.

Much warmer, a dizzying feeling going through Nine's frame, and it slowly began to intensify. Then it was broken by One who abruptly pulled away, "You are lying." The accusation was weak, as though One already was convinced but wanted to hear Nine actually say it, so the younger did. It was easier now to repeat it; of course it was hard though to find his own voice, "I think I love you…" Then he repeated it, "I love you." Nine suddenly found himself willing to explain more, "I don't know why but after what you did I felt different about you. Strange and weird and… And I had felt that way about Seven for a little while, but it wasn't as strong as the way I felt about you."

Nine realized how most of his words were repeated and how he sounded a tad clueless in his explanation. It caused him to feel a bit shyer as well and found himself looking away. Of course the other refused to allow this to happen and softly, softly being an unusual action for him, angled the other to look back at him with a single hand pressed to his cheek, "Are you positive, Nine?" Why was he so hesitant to believe in the other's feelings? It somewhat concerned Nine, "I am… You don't… You don't feel the same." He felt a rush of sadness, "It's okay One. I completely understand. I'm not upset. I'll just leave now." However, as he attempted to move he found the leader wouldn't let him.

The struggling continued, like a tug of war between One and Nine whether he'd stay or leave, until the leader overpowered him and got him back down on the bed, "Listen to me." One's voice had this small hint of annoyance, possibly from having to practically attack the younger while still having a throbbing headache, and a strange tone of gentleness. Even though Nine stopped struggling, he couldn't look at the other still though. Again One's hand came up to turn his face towards him, "Don't keep looking away from me, Nine." He waited until the Stitchpunk faced him, before letting out an exasperated huff, "And open your optics. This is very important."

Finally Nine did as told and One continued, "I cannot understand why you feel this way for me. I have treated you worse than I have treated any of the others. The only act I have ever done to show any sort of concern about you was my own sacrifice, and even that was more for the remaining. Not simply for you." A small pause and Nine waited for the rest of the other's rejection, "Or, at least, that is what I have been telling myself for quite some time." Sparks of dim hope, "What?" Nine's voice wavered a bit in strong emotion. "I have been lying to myself for quite a while. I'm surprised that it took me until that shocking act of yours to realize that none of those statements were true."

Their lips were once again met in a chaste touch, causing Nine to tremble softly. "I return your feelings Nine. I love you too." As soon as he finished the sentence their lips were together again and the feeling inside was growing. An overwhelming feeling of joy tingling and teasing Nine's insides. He wondered if this was how Six felt when his mouth brushed Eight's in that quick act of utter adoration. He knew by the way that the other held onto him that he wouldn't be leaving the room tonight, and didn't care. He could get used to this.

* * *

><p>"That was quite a difficult night." Two said with a smile as he stepped off the bucket lift. It was early in the morning, so early it could still be considered night, and he was carrying what they had found, some parts, inside. Seven and Five were left to carry the absolutely exhausted twins who they decided not to wake up, bringing them inside themselves so they could rest. The Inventor was pleased to hear it was quiet and hoped that the job he left Nine with wasn't too much. After dropping the parts off in the Workshop he decided to check on One to see if he was alright. Heading to his room he opened the curtain and entered, "One?" No answer, so he continued on inside, "One?"<p>

Still nothing, but he could see the leader in bed so he approached further. Of course, that's when he noticed something a little strange, as though someone else was in bed with him. It only took a few seconds to gently pull down the blankets and reveal the '9' on the other one's back. They were clutched to each other, more so One had Nine locked up tight enough that the other couldn't move at all. Not that Nine looked like he would move, what with the small matching smiles. Two slowly backed out of the room with his own smile, almost running into Five who had come back from putting the twins in bed with Seven, "Two? Is One okay?" The Inventor continued smiling with this knowing look.

"Yes, I think he's quite fine for now." He wrapped an arm around his apprentice's shoulders, "Come now, let's go get a little rest." Five was quite aware that Two was acting a bit giddier, but simply smiled and went with his mentor.

**_Fin_**

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><p><strong>Mable: There we are; My first 1x9 fic. A strange couple though it seems kind of cute. Of course it was an awkward start for my first try, but I might write it again sometime. I'm planning on posting more <strong>_**9 **_**fics very soon, along with other fics of separate categories. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!**


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